


only through experience

by nigoi



Category: Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:07:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23750557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nigoi/pseuds/nigoi
Summary: It's a normal day in Inazuma town --- except it's not.
Relationships: Hamano Kaiji & Hayami Tsurumasa
Kudos: 5





	only through experience

**Author's Note:**

  * For [i-dont-live-in-reality](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=i-dont-live-in-reality).



> this is my fic for i-dont-live-in-reality for the ina11 fanfic exchange, i hope you enjoy it!!!

Kaiji watches the riverside field, and blinks.

“What the…”

The sun shines even as it’s setting. The crystalline water flows and makes that melodic, relaxing sound. A lone bird is resting on an electric cable. It scratches one wing with its beak and crows, the sound mixing with the laughter of kids playing. Old people pass by, a bag of groceries dangling in their hands. Groups of three or four students joke together as they walk home from a long day of school.

All in all, a perfectly normal day in the quiet, postal-worthy Inazuma town. Except for one thing --- one very, very important thing.

Contrasting with the horizon, a silhouette kicks a ball, runs after it, kicks it again. That wouldn’t be weird; Kaiji’s seen Tenma train here until he dropped from exhaustion, after all. It’s the identity of the silhouette, which Kaiji finds after squinting for a bit, that’s abnormal.

Hayami is training. _Hayami_. Extracurricularly. With a school report to hand to the strictest teacher of Raimon tomorrow. A report which decides twenty percent of the mark. Is he feverish? Is _Kaiji_ feverish and seeing things?

His mind shortcircuits. His mouth parts open. He blinks again, rubs his eyes, blinks for the third time but nope --- it’s definitely Hayami. 

On a normal day, Hayami, ever perceptive, would have noticed him and asked him what he was staring at, kicking the floor self-consciously. That would have brought Kaiji out of his stupor, and he would have joked about something as to not hurt Hayami’s feelings. They would laugh together, and the moment would be forgotten.

That doesn’t happen though, which contributes to Kaiji’s blank mind. He looks at the sky, and decides he’s in a parallel world. Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that’s happened in here, what with Tenma in the team.

Eventually, his mind gets tired of running in circles. Kaiji shakes his head, claps his cheeks and pam!, good to go. Good enough, at least, to call out, “Hey, Hayami!” 

Hayami doesn’t react. He just keeps kicking his ball with a focused frown on his face, the same one he has when he’s chewing on his pen, staring at a particularly difficult math problem.

Kaiji can’t keep a fond smile off his face. He tries to make Hayami notice him again.

After calling out a few more times to no avail, he gives up,, skips down the stairs, skips to Hayami, and taps him in the shoulder. Hayami - Hayami jumps like a cat who’s had water thrown at, and - and Kaiji can’t help it --- he doubles over laughing.

“Hey!” Hayami says, voice high-pitched and face red like the reddest tomato and getting even redder. Pfffffft. He weakly slaps Kaiji’s shoulder. “Stop!” He - he can’t. He can’t! “Hamano! Stop, please!”

“Hahaha…” He wipes a stray tear off his face and straightens up, smile still lingering on his face. His cheeks hurt. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just - your face --- pffft! --- sorry.”

“Forgiven,” Hayami says, all haughty and mighty in spite of still being blushed up to the hairline, and clears his throat. His blush is fading, but he raises his chin, so obviously he’s still embarrassed. Aw.

Okay, Kaiji’ll throw him a rope. “So...”

“So?”

“ _So.._. “ He trails off, and grins at Hayami’s scowl. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. How come you’re playing football? You do remember we have to hand in a report tomorrow, right? Or are you sick? ‘Cause if you’re sick, you shouldn’t be playing football.”

He says it in a light-hearted tone, but Kaiji’s kind of not joking. To check, he puts his hand on Hayami’s forehead, but nope!, not feverish. He’s warm, but that’s probably ‘cause of the sweat. Which, by the way, _ew_. Now his hand’s all sticky.

“I - remember,” Hayami says, and shuts up. 

Kaiji raises an eyebrow while discreetly wiping his hand against his pants. “And?”

“And what?”

“C’mon, Hayami! Don’t play dumb.” Hayami shifts his weight from leg to leg, but his lips remain glued together. Man, what is he insecure about this time? ...Oh. Oh, that makes sense. “I promise I’m not gonna laugh,” he says, very seriously, and lifts his hand. “Pinky promise.”

Hayami peers up at him, eyes small through his unnecessarily big glasses. It suddenly strikes, for some reason - how young they are, how many responsibilities they have now, that shouldn’t be theirs. It’s a sobering thought, tastes bitter in his mouth.

Hayami’s quiet voice pulls him back to reality, “Really?”

He nods, maybe too enthusiastic, and intertwines Hayami’s pinky finger with him. “Really.”

That seems to convince him --- not that there was any doubt, ‘cause a pinky promise is serious business. Hayami smacks his lips one two three times and says, “...I want to develop a keshin.”

Kaiji, who’s in the middle of cupping a hand around his ear (hey, don’t blame him, he thought Hayami was gonna mumble for sure, and he wanted to tease him and make him repeat himself), stops.

“Huh?” he says, dumbly. But he must have heard wrong --- Hayami, aiming for a keshin? _Hayami_?

Hayami’’s cheeks redden again, but he doesn’t avoid Kaiji’s eyes. They don’t _shine_ with fighting spirit or anything like that, but, under their gaze, Kaiji can’t move a muscle. “I want to develop a keshin,” he repeats, a little less determined but still the most decided he’s ever seen him. “I know it takes a lot of work, but…” 

Kaiji blinks, and takes his time to process the information. 

Seconds pass and pass and the silence stretches, but it’s like a piece doesn’t fit with the rest of the puzzle. Hayami?, he asks himself for the third time. Training? On his free time? Preposterous. Maybe it’s his inferiority complex attacking again.

Anyways, he has to talk, ‘cause Hayami’s getting restless and a restless Hayami means an overthinking one. “You know you don’t have to have a keshin to be useful for the team, right? The team wants you no matter what. You know that, don’t you?” he says, in case it really is the inferiority complex.

Hayami’s expression doesn’t budge. His determination doesn’t shine, but it _burns_ , and Kaiji can’t take his eyes off him. Even though he’s hunched over, Hayami isn’t shaking, and when he speaks, his voice doesn’t waver,

“I know.” He coughs. “Now, if you excuse me…” 

And, with that said, Hayami runs off with the ball, not looking back even once.

Kaiji watches after him, lips pressed together so hard they must be turning white. Eventually, though, he shakes his head and smiles. Heh, times have really changed. Tenma has truly brought a revolution with him, and he knew it, but now he _knows_ it. 

Without really thinking about it, Kaiji starts to chase after Hayami. “Hey, wait for me!”

The sun has already set, and, in its place, the stars shine. Even though he can’t see the water, he hears it flowing against the stone. That lone bird has left the cable, to sleep away the night. Only night workers and students with strict parents walk by, and neither takes notice of the two silhouettes playing against the starry sky.

All in all, it’s a normal night in Inazuma town --- at least in appearance. However, there’s an anomaly --- a very, very important anomaly. It’s not every day Kaiji is the one trailing after Hayami, after all.


End file.
